Click here for the proposed amendments, many of which deal with the duty to protect electronic data.   See in particular the proposed change to the comment to Rule 1.1:

Maintaining Competence. To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject

At its February 25, 2013 meeting The Rules Committee cleared these proposals for public hearing, the next step toward adoption.

The minutes of the February 25, 2013 Rules Committee meeting reflect that the Rules Committee cleared a proposed amendment to the Imputed Conflict of Interest Rule (Rule 1.10) for public hearing, which is the next step toward adoption of an amendment to the Rules.

For the Final Report of the ABI National Ethics Task Force click here.

Government  mandated minimum CLE is dead. See “Connecticut Rules Committee says, “No to “Boot Camp” for New Lawyers” by Jay Stapleton in the Connecticut Law Tribune. The CBA had proposed a modest 36 hour requirement to be fulfilled over three years but that elicited a vociferous negative response. The boot camp idea was a compromise.  It was to  have been a one day “boot camp” for new lawyers covering ethics, the rules of court and law office management. The one day proposal didn’t make it to a pubic hearing either.

Continuing legal education remains one of the main obligations under Connecticut’s Rules of Professional Conduct.  See Rule 1.1, Competence. The law is constantly changing. How can one stay up to date without continuing to learn?  How lawyers stay up to date is a highly individualistic thing but the best lawyers and firms not only do it, they make it a point of emphasis. We shouldn’t need the government to tell us what to study and how often. On the other hand, the profession should make clear to the public that continuing legal education is a central part of what it means to be a lawyer and that lawyers fulfill that obligation in a variety of formal and informal ways.  Individual lawyers and firms should make it clear that CLE is important to them and explain how they go about staying current in their field of practice.

For a site devoted to prosecutorial accountability see The Open File.